


Five by Five

by hotchoco195



Category: Angel: the Series, Jossverse
Genre: Angry Sex, Angst, F/M, Slayer/Watcher naughtiness, release
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-19
Updated: 2012-11-19
Packaged: 2017-11-19 01:34:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/567546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotchoco195/pseuds/hotchoco195
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angelus is back and Wesley needs Faith at her best, but she seems...flat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five by Five

Angelus jumped them in the hotel garden. One minute they were walking back to headquarters discussing the return of the sun, the next Wesley was having his trachea crushed by a demon that still smelt like Angel’s cologne.

“Sucky spell huh? You think it’d at least go to the sidewalk.”

 _But the spell at Caritas stopped at the threshold, and look what had happened there_. Wesley was shooting Faith determined looks past the pressure on his throat, begging her to take the shot.

“Let him go. This is between you and me.”

Technically not true, but no one contradicted the Slayer about the dangers Angelus posed to the general public.

The vampire smirked. “It’s never just between you and me, Faith. Wes’ll always be in the middle.”

Faith was glancing between the stone cold fire of Angelus’ stare and the slight blue tinge Wesley’s face was getting. Wesley wished she would just get on with it so he could stop fighting and pass out in peace.

“That’s it, do the math. Can you get to me before I snap his neck? You still that fast? Wes is just dying to find out, aren’t you Wes?”

He punctuated his mocking snarl by shaking Wesley, his grip never loosening around the ex-Watcher’s throat. He couldn’t believe Faith was hesitating on a call like this.

“Do...it.” he croaked out.

Angelus gave some endless drone of bullshit that was more annoying than the oxygen deprivation, and Wesley put every curse word he knew into the look he gave Faith – and he knew some pretty good demon swears. But still the Slayer just stood there, unwilling to make the kill.

“Faith!”

She caught the tranq gun as the real Gunn tossed it to her, keeping his own weapon pointed at Angelus. The vampire dropped Wes and sprang backwards, clearing the fence as Faith’s darts missed him by inches. Gunn went for the gate but Faith dropped to her knees beside the Englishman.

“GO!” he coughed out, waving off her hands.

She looked like she wanted to refuse but headed out to the street. Wesley massaged some feeling back into his neck as he sucked in air, trying not to hyperventilate as the flow both soothed and burned his windpipe. A few seconds later the other two rejoined him.

“He’s long gone,” Gunn sighed, “You alright man?”

“Peachy.”

*****

Wesley sat on the couch beside the still sleeping Lorne and sipped slowly. Faith was idly running her fingers over things in the weapons cabinet, as if the blades gave her some comfort. Every now and then she glanced over at him with wide, worried eyes. Wes sighed internally. _No rest for the wicked_. He stood carefully and strode across the lobby, right up to Faith by the cabinet. She opened her mouth to say something but he simply reached past her and pulled out a shotgun.

Faith changed what she had been about to ask. “What’re you doing with that?”

“Changing the game.” He said flatly.

“I thought we weren’t going in for the kill.”

“We’re not,” he gave her a pointed look, “But if we get another chance I want to slow him down long enough to tranq him.”

He turned and walked away, and Faith jogged after him into the garden.

“Start with a perimeter sweep. I’ll take point. Stay frosty – if he’s still in the area-”

“You’ll let him escape again?”

His voice was completely cold and still a little ragged from the throttling, but Faith just rolled her eyes.

“This coming from the boy hostage?”

“Angelus was right. You should have gone for him.”

“He would have killed you.”

And that told him exactly how much had changed since the last time he’d seen her. She wouldn’t meet his gaze, her thumbs thrust in her back pockets awkwardly. But Wesley couldn’t afford to get soft now.

“And how many will he have the chance to murder now because you let that make a difference? Angelus is an animal. The only way to defeat him is to be just as vicious as he is.”

But he could tell Faith had lost some of that fire she’d had before the fight with the Beast. Even when she’d been all no-notice task force leader, she’d been making jokes and her trademark suggestive winks. Now she seemed...lost. She turned and walked down the steps, and he had no choice but to follow her in silence.

*****

“Where’s Angelus?” Wesley demanded.

“Who?”

Faith bashed the demon’s head against the sticky surface of the bar again and he squealed.

“Look, I’m telling ya I don’t know nothing. On my mother’s tumour. And even if I did, I’d never yak to a couple of fleshbags that are about to get their internal organs sucked out of their-”

Wesley fired the shotgun behind him without turning around. He glanced down at their would-be attacker, a body with a puddle for a face.

“Strom demon. Face should grow back – eventually.”

Faith leaned in close to the demon’s ear. “Think yours will?”

“Oh _that_ Angelus. Yeah, in here all the time running his mouth. ‘Look at me, I’m so evil’ - real jackass, never liked him. I’m on your side!”

Faith knocked his head again.

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know, I swear! He was in here earlier giving us the blah blah blah and then he started mumbling to himself like a big pretty freak, and then...he slipped into the back.”

“Back where?” Faith demanded.

They followed the demon’s finger to a beaded curtain and through into a dark, musty room. The floor was a sprawl of cushions and blankets covered in people – both human and vampire – who looked completely fucked up. Faith frowned and started to ask him something when he was knocked off his feet by a less unconscious vamp. It landed on Faith, fingers wrapped around her throat but she gave him a quick blow to the temple and he fell back, onto Wesley’s stake.

“You ok?”

She offered him her hand, big brown eyes full of what he might have called concern, if he’d ever seen her direct it at him before. It was like a sweet sadness in her gaze beyond the layers of on-the-run-fugitive stress and Angelus-on-the-loose worry. He wanted to just sit there holding her hand forever, and not have to look for answers so they could go out and trap their currently-evil friend. He didn’t want to fight the Beastmaster, he didn’t want to go back to the hotel and watch Fred and Gunn rekindle anything, he just wanted to sit here in the faintly purple light of the room and hold Faith’s hand.

But instead he just shrugged “Dandy,” and watched her approach one of the drugged up women.

“Hey, I’m gonna get you out of here. Can you walk?”

“No, but I can fly.” The girl giggled.

“What did they do to her?” Faith gave him that frown again, as if prison had somehow managed to restore some of her trust in authority figures.

“She did it to herself. They shoot up, the vampires feed, use them like a filter. I’ve read the effects can be quite intoxicating...for both of them.”

“Hey, you’re pretty. You wanna make out?”

Faith just rolled her eyes and shoved the girl against the wall.

“There was a vampire in here earlier. Tall, dark hair, talking to himself.”

“Let go!”

The brunette punched her, not hard enough to do any real damage, just enough to hurt through the high. “Did you see him?”

“No, I didn’t. Stop it, you’re hurting me!”

The girl’s cries made Faith flinch a little, and she stepped away. “She doesn’t know anything.”

 _Sorry to shatter that new trust of yours already_. “Maybe not.”

He drew his favourite knife as he passed the Slayer and thrust it into the girl’s shoulder without pause. She gasped but it was Faith screaming at him, clawing at his other arm.

“What are you DOING Wes?”

“Shut up!” he yelled as he grabbed the girl’s arm, “The tracks – you’ve been here what, two, three days straight? Answer me!”

“Yeah, God stop! Yes, four, four days.” She whimpered.

“Then you must’ve seen the vampire we’re looking for.”

“Angelus, I saw him.”

 “They said he was talking to himself. What was he saying?”

“I don’t know. It was, was like he was talking to someone else, all rain of fire a-and pulling strings and a soul. That’s all I heard! _Please_ stop, it hurts!”

He pulled his knife out and Faith ran to catch the sobbing girl. She turned and gave him a look of utter betrayal.

“Have you totally lost it?”

Wesley had no energy for anything but cold and emotionless right now, even if there was a tiny sensitive teen inside who wanted to prove he wasn’t really so heartless, and an ex-Watcher voice telling him to reassure his Slayer. He stowed his knife and walked out through a second door. Faith followed him into what must have been a storeroom, though the shelves were mostly empty.

“So, what, torturing humans part of the new makeover?”

“I did what I had to do because you couldn’t.”

“I hit her!” Faith pouted like the child she must have been once.

“You think that’s something new to her?”

“You crossed it back there Wes. What you did-”

And then he had a thought that he knew would both ruin any chance of friendship with Faith, and maybe prepare her for another friend’s harsh words.

“Oh, you have a problem with torture now? I seem to recall a time when you rather enjoyed it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not me anymore – you know that.”

He shook his shotgun lightly. “Nice to have this along, just in case. I remember what you did to me Faith. The broken glass, the shallow cuts so I would remain conscious.”

He could see the blunt edge of his voice and the deadpan stare were getting to her, driving her back to that place where she was the cat and he was just a mouse to be toyed with. When was the last time she’d actually had to face one of her victims?

“You think I’d hurt you again?”

And the true, soft feeling there almost made him give up the ruse. Almost.

“This is the part where you tell me you’ve turned a new leaf? Found God? Inner peace? We both know that isn’t true. You haven’t changed. You can’t.”

She looked more unsure of herself than she had all day, but he knew it was only a hint of the uncertainty she felt at being free of those nice, safe, restraining prison walls.

“You’re sick. You’ve always been sick. It goes right down to the roots, rotting your soul. It’s why your friends turned on you in Sunnydale, why the Watcher’s Council tried to kill you. No one trusts you Faith, you’re a rabid dog who should have been put down years ago!”

She pushed him hard into the gate behind him, twisting his gun up to connect with his jaw but pulled it away at the last moment. They stared at each other, Wesley panting a little from the attack he had tried to provoke but still hadn’t been sure was actually coming.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it? It’s what you’ll need to beat him. You have to be willing to take it all the way, Faith.”

She was absolutely glaring at him, and he suppressed a shudder imagining the poor folk who had suffered after causing that glare.

“Screw you, Wes. I’m not that person anymore – I won’t kill him, _especially_ him. So now you’ve had fun playing kick-the-Faith, can we get on with it?”

Wesley had thought he’d come to terms with that horrifying night when he’d helped save Faith from the Council, but she was right – his outburst (as theatrical as it may have been) had felt good. Watching her squirm as she remembered the things she’d done to him, the things she’d planned to do. He liked the feeling that he was the torturer now. It had completely burned away that tiredness he’d been carrying in his bones since the Beast blotted out the sky, leaving him with a thirst for mischief, a little release before he had to go back to his duty yet again. He took the gun back from Faith and placed it on an empty shelf.

“Opposite of movin’, Wes.”

“Faith? Shut up.”

He grabbed her, one arm wrapping around her waist as his other hand curled into her hair and tugged her to him. She opened her mouth to protest and he shoved his tongue through the gap, sliding it around hers and tasting the utterly neutral non-taste of Faith. _Prison food?_

She shoved both hands against his chest, and Slayer strength won. He flew back against the chain-link again as she put distance between them.

“What the hell was that?”

“Just trying to spark some of that old Faith passion. The girl I knew in Sunnydale could do anything because she _believed_ she could.”

“Yeah, well maybe on the surface, but you don’t really lose that self-doubt until you kiss your conscience goodbye and try to kill all your friends. We don’t have time for this.” She scoffed, turning to the large door that had to lead outside.

“Only because you hesitated. Angelus could be back in his cage by now.”

“And you’d be dead. We did this dance already, remember?”

“Maybe you’re useless then. Maybe it was the old dangerous Faith we needed.”

She looked like she might hit him, but shook her head. “That trick’s not gonna work a second time Wes. I won’t let you play me.”

“You need the anger Faith, the fire. Angelus is the worst you’ve ever faced and he won’t hesitate to tear you down – you have to be ready and you have to _use_ it. Let him give you the strength to beat him.”

She was still shaking her head and he raised a brow, stepping forward to trace a finger over her shoulder lightly. “There’s always the alternative...”

It felt like forever to Wesley, standing there attempting to seduce his Slayer for the greater good, but it only took a second for Faith to sigh and drop her shoulders in defeat. Half a breath later, Wesley was entangled in Slayer limbs. He fell back against the wall as she lifted herself, wrapping her legs around his waist as her tongue plumbed his mouth until he thought he might choke on it. He fought back, wrestling her for control as he stripped off her jacket, but it was pretty useless. He managed to tug one-handed on her bra until it unhooked, while her hands were busy with his belt. He slid his fingers under her shirt and bra, cupping the full firm flesh there. She ran her hands up and down his neck, just a little softer than he’d imagined in the (handful of) times he’d dared to think about this. He wanted to undo their pants, but with one hand holding her up and the other glued to her breast, he was simply out of opposable digits.

“Um, Faith? Little help?”

She chuckled. “Come on Wes, learn to multitask.”

But she reached between them and unzipped his fly, worming one hand down into his sensible grey boxers. She closed over his hot, hardening prick and he hissed very quietly. She pulled at him, running her thumb over the slick slit at the end on each run until he was rock solid and peeping out through the gap in his jeans. He’d drifted down her jaw and was nibbling on her neck, hard but quick so that she felt it in a series of shocks down her spine. Faith was grinding against him and he wondered what it would have felt like back when she had a passion for leather.

“Fuck. Too many clothes, Wes.”

She pushed against his chest and dropped her legs down and he reluctantly released her. She pulled her tank off and let her black bra slide down her arms, baring that wonderful midriff that had only been improved by hours in the prison yard. She looked up at him almost shyly as she unbuttoned her pants, kicking them off with her boots when they hit her ankles. He reached out and ran a hand over the curve of her hip, up to her chest and then over to tweak her nipple. She was biting her full lower lip and he raised a brow.

“Something wrong?”

“It’s just weird, ya know? Never expected this back in Sunnydale. And certainly not like this. You’re all rugged now. Swarthy.”

“Swarthy?”

“Yeah, I read. Not much else to do in the joint.”

He pulled her back into his embrace and circled her bent elbows with the very tips of his fingers. One hand coasted up her arm, then down between her breasts and came to rest just above the dark, coarse hair beneath.

“Did you do this, in prison?” he whispered huskily.

“Like I said, not much to do.”

He traced his finger along her folds, collecting the moisture gathering there, then eased them apart. He dipped into her, rolling his finger around her inner walls as she clutched at the chain link behind him. His tongue danced along her closed lips as his thumb brushed against her clit and her knees gave a little, pushing his hand against her harder.

“Fuck Wes, no one likes a tease.”

“You’re right.” He nodded, withdrawing his hand and lifting her up and onto his cock.

Faith groaned deep and breathy as they stood motionless for a moment. Wesley very much feared his eyes were crossing in his head. He stroked Faith’s bare ass with his thumbs as he held her up, her legs slowly wrapping around his back. Then she leant down and kissed him, rocking her pelvis and he started thrusting up. Somehow he managed to spin them without dropping her, so that her back was pressed against the chain link and he was free to move one hand up to her nipple as he pumped into her. She had one hand wrapped in the fence above her head and the other in his hair as he kissed her over and over, tongues never parting for more than a breath. Her Slayer muscles gripped him as he moved within her, both of them panting now as they got closer to the edge. For Faith, it had been far too long since her last assisted orgasm, and Wesley wasn’t coping well with her full breasts and thighs pressed against him as she bit his lower lip. Neither of them had time to drag this out, but he knew that if they survived this whole mess with Angelus, he would be dragging her into his bed for at least a whole weekend – if not a whole week.

She moved faster now, bucking against him as he slid his hand down to brush against her clit. She ground down against him each time their hips met, soft cries surprising him. He’d never thought Faith could be so girlish. She was too much of a woman for that. She rode him hard and he just held on for the ride. With a strangled shriek she grabbed at his shoulders and shuddered, coming with her eyes clamped shut. Her muscles tensed like a vice around him and he was gone, pouring into her with a shouted moan. They shivered against each other, trembling as they slowed to a stop. Faith was sagging between his chest and the fence, and he lowered her to the ground but didn’t let go.

“Well, you’re full of surprises Wes. If I’d known I might have broken out earlier.”

He chuckled with some difficulty, his breath still escaping him. “If you’d known, I might have agreed to some conjugal visits.”

They slid apart and he stepped back to flop down on a crate while she recovered. After about a minute, the Slayer began pulling on clothes and fussing with her hair.

“Faith?” he asked, trailing off as he wondered whether that had been enough.

“Five by five Wes. Let’s go – we’ve got some trapping to do.”

He tucked himself in and fastened his pants, grabbing his shotgun from the shelf as she made herself presentable. She nodded fiercely, just a hint of a smile in her eyes and he grinned. _No, definitely not enough_. His mind drifted into daydreams of all the ways he could get Faith’s blood racing as he followed her out.


End file.
